i. On Support Guides

While browsing around the internet for Ying based guides to do research for this, I found that only two types of guides are ever made for Ying, or even for any other support.
I'm a visual man, so when searching "Ying Guide Paladins," into Youtube, it brings up an advanced guide first, the heavily outdated and underwhelming Hi-Rez guide, two FrostFangs gameplay videos, and a Mix playlist. At around the Mix playlist, most players would instinctively click either the first result or the Hi-Rez guide.
I find Hi-Rez needs to make more basic guides that explain the INTENT of a champion rather than trying to instill a playstyle into the champion. Explaining why parts of a kit are designed how they are gives more insight than Raynday spouting off information from the top of his head. It also doesn’t help that he contradicts himself many times (He claims that Ying does tonnes of damage and a few minutes after calls her damage weak), uses unupdated information, uses fancy language to dance around points, and uses the worst stock music. I can’t give Raynday too much shit as I assumed he was reading off a script in the video but he feels more like promotional material than an actual player.
So Hi-Rez, delete all of your old guides, get your devs in, and have them explain why a champion is how they are, or find the nearest cliff and throw your YT team over it. Tell me why they make abilities and cards and Legendaries how they are. This would give new players much more inspiration in how they play and build.
This is only a small part of a big issue, and it’s the first type of guide most people will find. The “Pretend You Have 20 Health,” or as I like to call it, the “Pussy Boy,” playstyle. It’s the style of sitting behind corners, hiding behind allies, using Illusions like totems, and generally pacifying any fun the player would experience. Some people may enjoy putting on a playlist of Slayer and going half-AFK behind the tank and I have no right to tell them not to enjoy it, but most new players will find this style incredibly unfriendly to any aggression or self defense.
Most other guides are simply advanced guides, and is the first result on YT searches as of this posting. “The Art of Ying,” is a great video guide (as I am basing many points off of it), it combines clever editing, good explanations, and proper demonstrations to get its point across, but it is not for new players.
Its hyper aggressive, and trying to explain why the (Q-Q-LMB-RMB-LMB-LMB-F-F-LMB-F-LMB-Q-F-RMB-F-LMB-LMB-F-LMB-F-RMB) Combo makes sense is incredibly difficult when the player hasn't had basic experience. Hell, I still prefer the good old (Q-Q-RMB-F-F-F-RMB-Repeat until duration runs) over that mess.
I definitely recommend the guide for better players, as the info there is well presented, entertaining, and worth your time, and even some new players can learn something from it. But not what they need to know. The others present Ying as a simple and passive hero when she is probably the most versatile healer in the game.
If you prefer the backline healer playstyle, then it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out how to play it yourself. But if you need advice, the card Tangible is great for survivability, and Lifelike is your legendary of choice. Just remember to press RMB every once in a while for the ult charge and read the next section for some knowledge.
I’ll try to make this as simple as I can for people who favour a more aggressive style.
Also, FrostFangs, stop calling every damn video you upload a guide. You can make them ‘Builds’ or ‘Decks’ but calling them ‘Guides’ is misleading.

ii. Dimensional Link Explained

Illusions Can Save You!

Dimensional Link is heavily under explained to the player by most guides and by the in-game menu. When first playing Ying, the concept may come across as being simple enough, but as soon as you press F more than once then congratulations, you have just entered the **** You Go Die Idiot™ Lottery and won an all expense paid trip directly to Hell. There are swathes of people that just sum up the mechanic as a panic button and leave it at that, and I really don't blame them.
As such, it would be a disservice not to explain this ability further.
The first cast of this ability replaces you with either the farthest Illusion or with the illusion you are looking at and then puts into a state where you can use the ability multiple times. From there it takes some mental gymnastics.
Everytime you place an Illusion, it is marked in one of three positions in a cycle of sorts (one of those positions being your own). Everytime you press F after the initial cast, you will rotate into the next position in this cycle if you aren’t looking at one. This is the best way I can explain it but if you need a visual model, watch this link for a few seconds and it’ll make sense (I know I’m using Art of Ying footage don't yell at me please). This cycle also applies for dead illusions, as if you have the Rewind card on (as I know you all already have in your decks), and if you press F twice, you will swap with both dead spots instead of the newly created one.
This ability is probably the best in Ying’s kit, and I’ll go over its usage in a section or two.

iii. The Legendaries

Priority Pick

The Legendaries for Ying are very straightforward, but only two of them give a good enough benefit to use.
Focusing Lense inconsistent, and Life Exchange slashes your damaging potential. That being said, the only two legendaries you should consider are Lifelike and Resonance.

Situational

Lifelike is a situational pick, and should be considered in situations where your team is up against a high aggro team or if your team has two or more tanks. It greatly increases your healing potential, but suffers if you aren’t being bombarded at every moment, a 20% slash to healing is no joke, and takes some consideration as to whether or not you should pick it.
Resonance, however, should be a priority pick. The biggest counter to Ying is simply shooting at her illusions. In any situation they can be neutralized by simply firing at them. With the detonation, however, it makes the illusions very dangerous to deal with, and it makes shatter uncounterable to an extent. This guide assumes you have Resonance, as Lifelike is a part of the passive playstyle.

iv. Illusion Placement and Shatter Usage

Shatter Packs A Punch!

Most guides give a very 2D view of these two abilities.They present them as “Pretend this is a Grohk totem,” and another Panic Button. However, Ying can stack damage up extremely quickly, as each illusion shattering deals 500 damage and can be summoned by Dimensional Link, stacking up to 2000 damage not including your weapon hits.
“But Mossy! What about my healing potential? Don’t I need to save illusions for healing instead of using them for damage?”
Shattering two illusions on one target generates 6% ult charge. Doing it against two enemies generates 12% ult charge, and using your Dimensional Link combo can get up to 30% per combo (if you hit the whole team). Ult charge is important with Ying, as at least a third of your healing will come from Illusory Rift, and shatter can stack it incredibly quickly.
And even that is a 2D look at her illusions. While they can do that much, they can also act as meat shields to block BK and Drogoz ults, block enemies, act as shields from enemy fire, and can block certain splashing projectiles such as Gourd among other things.
Illusion placement for healing during downtime or after aggression is very simple. Place them behind characters and in places where they can shatter to damage flankers.
If anything, remember to shatter a lot. It might compromise healing immediately, but you need ult charge, and that ult gives a massive heal.
Fun Fact: Ying’s Illusions have the same health as Grohk’s totem despite having almost a third the CD. Please buff my orcish boyfriend.

v. Dimensional Link Usage

Teleportation!

Dimensional Link has two main uses, for aggression, and for escape. In both cases, having an ‘anchor’ illusion is mandatory. It is an illusion that stays in a safe place while you tend to the front line or move in for aggression.

Now I'm Up Here

The basic aggression combo is to set up an illusion, move into the backline and cause a distraction, place another illusion, shatter it, and use dimensional link to move the anchor illusion into the enemy team. After that, press F three times and shatter again. This can stack a large amount of damage while maintaining healing using the anchor. It can be a base for other more complex combos as well.
Chase combos can be set up by summoning an illusion close to an enemy, Linking to it, using LMB and summoning another Illusion, and the shattering, and using F to bring the illusion back to the enemy. Chases are more dangerous because of the lack of an anchor and the risk of encountering multiple enemies.
Dimensional Link also has a useful application with Yings Ultimate.

vi. Illusory Rift

Add Saving Teammates

Illusory Rift has two main uses: to save allies, and to teleport. It's a simple ability, it comes back frequently (assuming you shatter) and most players can judge when to use it. But if you’re unsure of it or don’t know when it’s useful, here are some uses.

Saving Them

Illusory should be used when allies are about to aggress, are already aggressing, or are in need of healing. It already starts healing during the windup cast, and 600 a second is about a fourth of a non-frontline health bar and can make some saving throws for allies.

Illusory Rift Healing Effects

Other uses of the ability are: using it at spawn to teleport into the fray, using it as a panic button and teleporting to an ally, using it to teleport to an ally in need of help, etc.

vii. Mistakes to Avoid

Yes I know I’m ripping this from the Art of Ying guide, but it's something that all players should keep in mind. I’ll make it a bullet list of common mistakes, including...
-Over aggressing
-Agressing while on cooldown
-Overestimating the healing given by Illusory Rift
-Not keeping track of enemy cripples
-Not keeping track of flankers
-Not keeping track of Illusions
-Forgetting to leave illusions out to heal
-Chasing kills into enemy backlines
-etc.

vii. Notable Cards & Item Builds

Best Deck Build

I’m not going to tell you what loadout to use, but instead I’m going to give you a list of cards that are very notable for their uses. Remember to change your deck as you get better, and don’t stick to the base deck.
If you need to know, as of this post, my main is (Rewind I, Spring Bloom IV, Harmony IV, Spring Forward V, and Carry On I)
Rewind - You should almost always have a copy of this card in your deck. It’s use in aggression is so important that I never use a loadout without it. Even in the pussy boy playstyle, it can add damage and healing to your games. Just don’t put points into it, 1 is enough to pull use from it.
Spring Bloom/Encouragement- Both of these cards are almost equally usable in my opinion, though Spring Bloom is more usable for me seeing that more illusions will be killed in battle than enemies. You should only get Encouragement if your optimistic and if you get either, I recommend you upgrade them to 4 or 5.
Harmony- If you play an aggressive Ying, you'll find it hard to get self healing, seeing that your Illusions are being used for shattering in this situation, but healing for around 130, 260, 390, 420, 550 per two illusions shattered can stack up quickly. I’d recommend at least a 2 in this.
Spring Forward- This card is the only card I always put 5 points into. Being in the state of Dimensional Link allows you to be in a state of aggression for longer and allows for more time to consider teleports. Overall, the only con to having this card is that the CD of Dimensional Link is extended but that can be counteracted by Chronos.
Carry On- Simply enough, having Illusions around for longer makes them have less maintenance and keeps Illusion off CD more. Particularly useful for healing focussed decks. I usually keep it at 1 or 2 as any higher doesn't give a benefit to me.
Tangible- Simply enough, higher health is more survivability. Its particularly useful against snipers or aggro oriented teams.
Disappear- Useful when playing the passive style, as it allows backline movement. Just make sure you deal with flankers very early on.
Efficiency- You get to use Dimensional Link more often. I find that Chronus makes this card obsolete but it can replace Spring Forward if you find the card unuseful to you.
Shuffle- Added mobility to Dimensional Link, simply enough.

Best Items

Most other cards are insignificant to me but if you find use out of them, don’t let me stop you from using them. Just always remember to change your decks to your skill as you play.
Lastly for items, just prioritize Chronos. Any other pick is up to personal judgement and Chronos can be left for something else, but slashing CD is extremely useful.

Post a Comment

2 comments

Wow this is an amazing post. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. Been looking for this information for quite some time. I am a Young main and I usually do well with her but with this information I will be able to take my game to the next level. I had no idea that you can teleport multiple times during the duration of dimentionad link. Thanks again 😊